Web Communications Group>

Web Communications Group Meeting: 10-02-08
Meeting minutes

I. The meeting began with a brief description of the Penn eCard web site by Donna Petrelli of Business Services.

• Penn eCards allow users to personalize email messages using photos of the Penn campus. Users can select a photo, craft a personal message and send the "eCard" to anyone they wish.
• Business Services would like all schools and departments to link to the eCards site.
• Holiday cards should be available before December 1st.
• Some in the group expressed an interest in adding school logos to the photos. Donna will look into this and let the group know the status at a later date.
• Business Services is currently in the development stages of creating an eVite site component that will launch at a later date that is yet to be determined.

II. Terri Ryan from Human Resources briefly discussed the plans for the upcoming closing of the South Street Bridge.

• The City of Philadelphia has announced that the South Street Bridge will close for reconstruction before the end of 2008. The project is expected to last 18-24 months.
• All web sites that contain directions to Penn should not attempt to recreate the detour directions themselves but rather link directly to Public Safety's South Street Bridge web site because that site will reflect the latest city proposed detours.
• A commuter fair was held on October 7th and 8th to provide information about commuting options, public transportation, car sharing and bike safety. Representatives from SEPTA, PATCO and New Jersey Transit were available to answer questions.

III. Mark Eyerly from the Law School discussed their recently revised web site.

• The Law School wanted to increase the amount of information on its News site.
• A writer was hired to generate content.
• Research was conducted to ascertain the public's feelings towards Penn Law.
• The News site was revamped but basic navigation and architecture remained the same.
• Content can easily be added to the News site using an open source content management system (CMS) called Moveable Type.
• In addition to the revisions to the News site, the Law School homepage now has areas for highlighted events, recent news, and an "In the Media" section. These areas link to the Newsroom which also includes audio, video and a link to faculty experts.

III. University Communications showed the group the UComms YouTube channel and a brief discussion ensued. UComms asked that any school or center that creates a YouTube channel should alert University Communications.

IV. The Penn Experience Web site project is being resubmitted by University Communications.

• This new section of the Penn web would be a central area that incorporates information from all 12 schools to provide a lively, comprehensive view of life on Penn's campus.
• The audience for The Penn Experience would be internal and external; including prospective and current students, faculty, and staff.
• Existing content pooled from schools and centers will be repurposed for use on The Penn Experience.
• Profiles of students, staff, faculty and alumni would be included. Videos could almost be like mini-documentaries. The group looked at examples on the following web sites:
  • http://i.lmu.edu/main/: This Loyola Marymount site is more than just a virtual tour. It includes a lot of video with different "tour guides", featured webcasts on special events like commencement and presidential speeches, "Experience LMU" and several other webcast options, a "Walking Tour" slideshow, an interactive campus, map, e-cards, screensavers, and "LMU on the Web" which includes links to LMU pages on facebook, You Tube and myspace and others.
  • http://www.vanderbilt.edu/nashville/: This site is mostly text based but includes similar topic areas as the proposed Penn Experience. It includes a lot of information about life in Nashville. The Penn Experience will include a "Penn and Philadelphia" area.
  • http://www.berkeley.edu/tour/findinfo/index.html: This is an example of a site that gives users an expansive view of campus life--including student and faculty profiles, detailed campus information and easy access links to other important areas of the Berkeley web.
• A virtual tour will be included in this proposal. The virtual tour needs to be redesigned and should be interactive and include video. Users should have the option of choosing a particular area of the Penn campus to tour. The group looked at the following examples of virtual tours:
  • http://www.361studios.com/EarlhamTour/: This tour has a menu that allows the user to choose the area of the campus they would like to tour and also includes an interactive map that allows users to zoom in on a particular campus location and view actual photos of the building/area in a popup photo.
  • http://www.biola.edu/undergrad/explore: This tour uses a video that can be navigated by topic. Includes a voiceover with music in the background. In addition, videos called "subvideos" can be viewed by a user to obtain additional information about a particular topic.
• Summary of group feedback regarding The Penn Experience:
  • Suggestion that the site should have a commenting feature or a blog.
  • Conduct usability testing of target groups using other university virtual tours.
• University Communications asked the group to email the URLs of sites that have particularly good virtual tours or sites that are similar to the Penn Experience concept.

University web standards, guidelines, page templates and logos.

News feeds and RSS information.

View news feeds from around the University in a single, automatically updated page.

Images of the University of Pennsylvania for download.

Penn Perspectives is a series of ongoing conversations with people doing exciting, innovative work at the University of Pennsylvania.

TV Spots: Penn has developed three new TV spots that highlight the University’s long tradition of ingenuity and entrepreneurship.

• Penn Nursing
• School of Arts and Sciences
• Penn Veterinary Medicine
• Wharton School
• Athletics
• Penn Medicine
• Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology